Counting down the days until its June 12th opening, Moscow's Garage Museum launches a celebratory new video.

In a country that has been largely closed off to Western art and culture, Moscow's Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, which opened in 2008, hasn't always had an easy time convincing the public of its mission to bring global arts to Russia. But with the launch of its new building—the Rem Koolhaas-designed structure in Gorky Park to open on June 12—it is poised to broaden the country's scope and influence in the art world.

Even before the opening of the new structure, museum director and founder Dasha Zhukova was bringing big-name artists to a previously inaccessible audience. “I never thought in a million years that I would show in Russia,” artist John Baldessari told WSJ magazine of his 2013 exhibition with the museum. “Most American artists show in Paris, Rome, London. I was the envy of all my artist friends.” Zhukova has exhibited other art stars like Marina Abramovic and James Turrell at the museum's previous location at Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage (which the museum takes its name from), and will continue to do so at its new location. For its inaugural exhibitions, Zhukova and her team have planned shows by artists Yayoi Kusama and Rirkrit Tiravanija, exhibiting both of them in the country for the first time. Also on view will be a commission by Erik Bulatov and a site-specific installation by Katharine Grosse.

Garage's collection also goes beyond the contemporary, reaching into the archives of Russian art history. Archivist Sasha Obukhova has brought her collection of videos, posters, and invites from underground art happenings of Soviet-era Russia all the way through the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s. Even the building holds onto a bit of the past: Housed in a Brezhnev-era structure, Koolhaas has described the building as a "found object" using details, such as a crumbling Soviet mosaic, as a focal point in his design. The 5,400 square meter (about 17,000 square feet) building will hold five exhibition galleries, a screening room, auditorium, and education spaces.

Garage has positioned itself as one of Russia's foremost cultural institutions, transforming the Russian art scene for the next generation. As a countdown to their opening next month, they've launched a video narrated by Zhukova, who quotes artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Louise Bourgeois, and Edvard Munch.